Sven Quandt founded X-Raid back in 2002. It was the first German team that challenged the then dominating Japanese manufacturers with a German car. A year later X-Raid became the first outfit to enter a competitive diesel vehicle in the Dakar. Today, with drivers such as Stéphane Peterhansel, Nasser Al-Attiyah, Nani Roma, the team have numerous wins to their name in the rally that is considered one of the biggest challenges in the world of motor racing. The 59-year-old gives an insight into running an operation like this. – For the majority of the year it’s a seven day per week job, minimum twelve to fourteen hours per day. Otherwise you won’t succeed in motor sports. If you think that it’s a 9 to 5 job, you can forget about it – that's rule number one. You have to work with people, you have to work with technology, you have to work with a big team. It's like a big family if you do it right. There's a lot of fun, but it's hard work – he sums up.

Unlike many team principals, Quandt doesn't have a background as an engineer or a professional driver. – I'm actually coming from a completely different world – running bigger companies and start-ups. Then I have been co-driving, I have been driving, I have been working on the cars, so I did all of this. I raced for ten years, but I was already a team principal of my own team at that time. Then the company got bigger and we swapped to BMW. That's how you get there. You get there by accident. It's not something you plan. It grows, it happens and then at the end you do it. That's it. – he says.

Running a multi-national operation like X-Raid requires certain personal skills. – The main thing is to know your people. You need to know your people quite good to know who can do what and to put the right people in the right positions so they always do superb job and they are 100 percent reliable – explains Quandt.

As a team principal, the German has experienced a lot of joy and sorrow over the years. – Winning is enjoyable, there's no question. On the opposite, when you loose it's not so bad, because it wakes you up. So I wouldn't say that this is the worst. The worst is when you have problems that you cannot solve or if something unfair happens. And that sometimes happens in motor sports – he concludes.

With a lot to be proud of Quandt is still hungry for more. – Probably another victory on the Dakar – he replies when asked about his future goals. – The competition gets more difficult so at the moment it would be very interesting for us to win again. As well bringing new drivers to the Dakar and making them win. Nasser unfortunately did not win with us the first time, but he was in my team before and I saw that he had the potential. I like to have people in my team with the potential to win, even not now but in the future. That's always the goal, to bring in the drivers who can win the Dakar in two or three years – he adds.